The Nightmare Trip
Trip Start
Jun 09, 2003
1
113
169
Trip End
Jun 02, 2007
Wellington,
New Zealand
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Getting out of Wellington...
We left Wellington on Thursday afternoon and drove all the way up to Napier. We arrived at Aqua Lodge and pitched our brand new tent in the garden. We went for a walk along the beach as the sun set and then sat on the front and had some dinner. It was the best weather we'd had in weeks.
The following morning we awoke to find the inside of the tent covered in condensation dripping all over us. We had to take the tent down and walk into town to try and return it and find a new one. We couldn't find the shop we'd bought it from but we did manage to find another tent. By the time we'd gone back and pitched it most of the day was gone and our plans of cycling round the vineyards were out the window. We decided to go along to Ocean Spa and sit in the hot pools. Unfortunately the lane pool was closed so we decided we'd return the following morning.
Getting plastered....
We got up nice and early and we were nice and dry. Took down the tent and packed the car before walking along the front to Ocean Spa. We paid our entry fees and went in. Bethan decided to go and sit in the hot pools first, but I wanted to go for a swim. I climbed down the steps into the shallow end of the pool and somehow managed to smack the side of my foot off the bottom of the pool. It was a little bit sore but I managed to swim 2 lengths before getting out and hobbling around. A very kind member of staff bandaged up my foot before we decided to go to the medical centre to get it checked out. After waiting ages to see the doctor and get an x-ray I was told that I'd fractured 2 bones in my foot and would need a plaster cast up to my knee. I had to leave the surgery on crutches and poor Bethan had to drive. We headed out of town and managed to find a nice campsite for the night right on the beach. Unfortunately I was only able to sit with my foot up and imagine what it would be like to go swimming. Bethan was great, pitching the tent and cooking dinner while I sat on my butt. Being in the middle of nowhere the stars were amazingly bright and despite being in a tent with my leg in plaster I managed to get a fairly good nights sleep.
Getting nowhere...
We got up nice and early and I crawled around helping Bethan to unpitch the tent. We then started to drive Northwards towards Taupo. We were getting quite low on petrol but we checked the map and there were a few towns between Napier and Taupo. Eventually the petrol light came on and after a bit of a disagreement about what to do Bethan got out of the car and went to ask where the nearest garage was, managing to trip herself up on the way. Apparently there were no petrol stations between Napier and Taupo, nor between Napier and Gisborne. We ended up having to drive all the way back to Napier to get petrol. At that point we decided we'd had enough and headed back southwards to Wellington to return the car as I was no longer able to drive it.
Getting back to Wellington...
We're now back in Wellington. We caught up with Debbie who's now on her way home. We're staying in a motel, we decided we needed some luxury for a few days and somewhere I could laze around without Bethan having to run around after me too much. At the moment I am rethinking my plans as obviously it's going to be quite difficult travelling on my own when I'm unable to walk. In the meantime I'm heading up to Auckland at the weekend and I'll decide where to go from there.
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